Gliederung

The prevalence of obesity has been increasing in many Western countries over the past two decades. Mainly secular changes in energy intake and expenditure have been invoked to underlie the increasing rates. Genetic factors have not been considered because of the very recency of this phenomenon. I hypothesize that genetic factors might well be involved via an increased rate of assortative mating between obese individuals. I speculate that the recent upsurge in social stigmatization of obese individuals underlies the hypothesized increase in assortative mating.

The talk is therefore structured as follows: Firstly, I will briefly review current knowledge in the genetics of obesity and sketch design problems in identifying obesity genes. In the second part of my talk, I will summarize the evidence for assortative mating in obesity and the consequences for both case-control and family studies. In the last part of my talk, I will discuss the hypothesis that genetic factors play a role in the epidemic of obesity.